Step inside Amazon's corporate palace

Gender roles play role in heart attack risk, not just biological sex

ADVERTISEMENT

The differences in heart attack symptoms between men and women are fairly well known; although both get chest pains, women are more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms including shortness of breath, nausea and back or jaw pain. Now, a study from McGill University suggests that it's not just biological sex we should be looking at -- it's gender roles.

READ NEXT

Girl Guides could get badges for coding and science as part of massive overhaul

ByLibby Plummer

Subjects were asked to complete an "elaborate questionnaire" related to gender, which addressed aspects of daily life that had been traditionally ascribed to either men or women. This included questions on the number of hours a person spends carrying out household chores or looking after children, and a person's salary.

Researchers also developed a "gender index" ranging from 1 to 100, with 1 representing a "very high level of characteristics traditionally ascribed to men" and 100 representing traditional traits ascribed to women.

Results suggested that adults with societal role and personality traits traditionally ascribed to women have an increased risk of experiencing a second serious cardiac event within 12 months of their first -- regardless of their biological sex.

"We observed that participants with a very high score of traditional feminine characteristics, regardless of whether they were biologically a man or a woman, were more likely to have a second cardiac event,” said Roxanne Pelletier, lead author of the research. "In our cohort, characteristics traditionally ascribed to females seemed to adversely affect health outcomes, potentially though increased anxiety related to those characteristics."

ADVERTISEMENT

Although causation is likely to be complex, the team suggest that the presence of increased anxiety in men and women with traditional 'womanly' characteristics, as described by the study, is linked to financial difficulties and the need to manage housework, childcare and work. "These factors may represent a daily burden and chronic anxiety may result," said Pelletier.

The team now hope that further studies will incorporate gender through their measure.